Evaluating the impact of international environmental laws on oil and Essay - 1

Evaluating the impact of international environmental laws on oil and gas - Essay Example GEP-Oil is under attack from environment conservation agencies on its oil exploratory methods.This has led to the firm abandoning oil exploratory activities by GEP-Oil which has been operating in the Russian northern hemisphere. Oil exploration in the northern hemisphere is exceedingly complicated and an extremely expensive investment and GEP-Oil had entered into partnerships with investors from out of state in order to be able to explore for oil reserves in the arctic region. The effects of the attack by the environmental groups will mean that the firm cannot and will not be able to meet its obligations to its partners. On the other hand, GEP-Oil cannot ignore the issues that have been raised against it because it wants to be conformable to environmental protection practices and also wants good partnership and trust with the local community. This means that GEP-Oil must carefully and quickly address the situation to resume its oil exploration as soon as possible. Recommendation(s) G EP-Oil should be able to address the issue while involving the relevant stake holders in the process. This will mean that GEP-Oil will have to closely work with environmental groups in order to ensure that their issues and concerns are well addressed. This will also mean that GEP-Oil will need to involve the local communities in order to also ensure that their concerns are also taken care of. By doing this, GEP-Oil will be able to overcome the challengers posed by the situation as well as mintage any risk of the situation happening again. 1. Background of the issue The issue of environmental degradation caused by the oil exploration is one that every oil exploration firm should be able to look at carefully. GEP-Oil has found itself in the midst of the issue and this threatens to interfere with the operations and the success of the firm. GEP-Oil has being accused by environmental agencies of being careless in the way it carries out its exploratory activities. Because of this, GEP-Oil has been affected in the way it operates because it has stopped some of its operations in order to deal with the situation first. This scenario is threatening to kill the numerous employment opportunities that the firm affords the residents. GEP-Oil is also likely to lose its reputation because this has affected its ability to continue with its obligations which it owes its partners in business. On the other hand, GEP-Oil does not want to create the wrong impression within the community it operates and this has meant that the firm has to tread extremely carefully around the matter. In this paper, these issues are addressed in detail and alternatives to dealing with the situation are taken. 2. Impact of Oil/Gas Production on the Environment According to Mushkat (87) businesses are seen to promote environmental degradation by the very fact that they promote economic activity. The exploration and production of oil leads to a damage of the environment and this means that producers of o il will have to take necessary measures to mitigate the damage done to the environment. GEP-Oil will have to understand this in solving its current situation. There are a number of ways in which GEP-Oil can remedy the situation and convince environmental groups to accept that it needs to go on with oil production in the arctic region. One of this is sustainable development. As Beyerlin (2011, p. 84) says, sustainable development refers to the fact that natural resources should be exploited in a way that leaves no or little damage to the environment. This law is recognizant of the fact that exploitation of natural resources will have to be done in order for survival of human beings on the planet. This will be GEP-Oil’s biggest defence against the accusation. Oil is an immensely useful to the community and it is